Since 2001, the international maritime community has had a great tradition of meeting in Singapore to discuss and monitor the administrative and technological developments in ballast water management under the auspices of the International Conference on Ballast Water Management (ICBWM).
Over the years the International Maritime Organization (IMO) has been addressing many varied concerns that both ship owners and member States have raised regarding effective implementation of the BWM Convention. The 7th ICBWM, held in November 2014, had the aim of addressing the uncertainties, challenges and experience with type-approval of ballast water management systems. However, the 8th ICBWM was the most significant of the conferences with discussions surrounding implementation of the Convention just before it came into force on 8 September 2017.Among other things, stakeholders gathered to discuss the latest developments at the IMO and by the US Coast Guard with particular attention to be paid to the revised Guidelines for the approval of Ballast Water Management Systems (G8), challenges facing port State control with regards to compliance and the timeline for installation of BWM systems.